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There are so many reasons that fall is better than every other season, but right now one thing in particular is jumping out at me: television! All of my favorite shows are in the fall. There are only a handful of shows that I make it a point to tune in and watch, and they are all during this season. So many great characters that I love to absolute death.

Here are the 10 shows whose premiers I have marked on my calendar (with all times in EST). Why can’t every season be fall?

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1. Saturday Night Live, Sept. 15Season 38, Saturdays, 11:30 p.m., on NBC
While I am still in mourning over SNL‘s loss of my girl Kristin Wiig and Andy Samberg, I’m psyched for this upcoming season. It kicks off with Seth Macfarlane as the host, the hilariously inappropriate creator of Family Guy and one of my favorite movies of the summer, Ted. Plus, my favorite band Mumford and Sons will be performing on Sept. 22, just two days before their new album Babel- which I have been awaiting for months- is released.

2. Parks and Recreation, Sept. 20Season 5, Thursdays, 9:30 p.m., on NBC
Leslie Knope. Tom Haverford. Ann Perkins, the beautiful tropical fish. Ben Wyatt. Ron F*cking Swanson. I have developed a very, very unhealthy personal bond with the hilariously lovable characters on P&R. Luckily I work in an office that has also fallen in love with Pawnee, Indiana. We’re no Parks department, but we’re still pretty awesome. As we are speaking, I am staring at my Swanson Pyramid of Greatness, drinking from my Pawnee Dept. of Parks and Recreation water bottle, and counting down the days until my boyfriend and I celebrate our new favorite holiday, Treat Yourself 2012 (held on Oct. 20, if you’re interested).

3. New Girl, Sept. 24Season 2, Tuesdays, 8 p.m. on FOX
In the one season that New Girl was on, I became completely obsessed. It’s one of the funniest shows on television right now. I will actually be sitting around and think of a Schmidt one-liner and start laughing out loud to myself. And I find every occasion possible to use the word “chutney” (pronounced chutt-uhh-nee). And now I’m laughing again.

4. How I Met Your Mother, Sept. 25Season 8, Tuesdays, 8 p.m. EST, on CBS
The last season left off with a whole world of scandal, and I’m ready to hear what’s up. I’m most excited by how dynamic Barney Stinson has become. Not just because NPH is a smoking hottie and this means I can see him more, but because I think he’s one of the most interesting characters there. And to be honest, I just want to meet the damn mother already. I know it’s the title of the show, but out with it, Ted!

5. 30 Rock, Oct. 4Season 7, Thursdays, 8 p.m., on NBC
It’s no surprise that this show is my life blood. I mean you don’t have to know me or anyone that knows me for more than 10 minutes to realize it. It’s had an amazing seven seasons, with the best cast and the smartest lady in television behind the writing. But now it’s time to say goodbye, as they’ve announced it’s unfortunate end. While this final half-season will hang heavy on my heart, all good things must come to an end. I’ve gone through the stages of grief already, gone to my Mecca, (30 Rock, this summer. I even took a studio tour with a page!) and I’m prepared to just enjoy it while it lasts, and rewatch everything on Netflix, like, 8 times a day.

6. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Oct. 11Season 8, Thursdays, 10 p.m., on FX
My friends and I have an It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia tradition dating back to my days at college. We all settle in to watch it, and drink wine out of Diet Coke cans. Now that we’re all adults (or whatever) and spread out across the country I’m hoping we can keep that ridiculous tradition alive wherever we are. It’s hard not to love this show. It is completely absurd, borderline overly offensive, and it makes fun of all the jerky things us human beings do. Plus it’s in the greatest city on Earth. How can you lose?

7.The League, Oct. 11Season 4, Thursdays, 10:30 p.m., on FX
You don’t have to be a football fan to watch The League. The really genuinely dysfunctional relationships are what makes this show so funny in the first place. It focuses around the friends’ ultimate demise: their fantasy football league. Everyone has some sort of competition that can drive them crazy: for me it’s Quizzo and FourSquare mayorships. This show will make you feel a lot better about your own competitive edge.

9. American Horror Story, Oct. 17Season 2, Wednesdays, 10 p.m., on FX
If you missed the first season of American Horror Story, you won’t miss much tuning into season two. The show starts over with a whole new plot line, but seeing that it’s set in a haunted asylum I’m assuming it will be equally as twisted and terrifying. It starts a few weeks before Halloween, so I’m already in the spooky mood and ready for a scare. This season sounds even more exciting than the last, so I would suggest tuning it.

10. Community, Oct. 19Season 4, Fridays, 8:30 p.m. on NBC
Poor Community. I think it has gotten the short end of the stick in the last year, almost getting dropped entirely, then taking a hiatus for entirely too long before losing it’s creator to a serious case of the crazies and then being moved to Fridays. Well don’t worry, Greendale Seven, I am not giving up on you yet. Besides, it’s not like I do anything on the weekend anyway!

Last winter I made the terrible mistake of dying my hair red. I’ve been a lifelong brunette -except for that short period in high school where I went a stunning shade of pink- and I thought somehow that red would boost my personality in some way. I was so off base.

I recently read an interview in Vanity Fair with one of my favorite actresses right now, Lizzy Caplan, in which she said that she was excited that actresses like her now “get to be the girl” as opposed to the best friend role. Caplan, a pale brunette, is stunningly gorgeous, but you may remember her as the dark and crazy mess that was Janis Ian in Mean Girls. It got me thinking about television and movies today, and about how brunettes have- in their own way- taken over a role that in the past they never really played. And as a brunette who has now come to completely adore my hair color, I’m all for it.

There’s something to be said about brunettes taking charge of the television industry right now, because in a way it opens up the door for all women to take a new lead in media. Lizzy, Tina Fey, Zooey Deschanel, Mindy Kaling, Aubrey Plaza, Kat Dennings, Krysten Ritter. All unusual suspects in Hollywood that have managed to make a name for themselves as strong, independent, funny, smart, unique and sexy leading ladies. And they’ve used their talents to draw their crowd as opposed to a stereotypical idea of what is supposed to be beautiful in Hollywood.

These women have created a new persona and pushed the limit on what all women actresses can do on TV. Amy Poehler and Tina Fey are proving that you can be strong, funny and powerful without a man influencing every aspect of your life; Kat Dennings and Krysten Ritter prove that women can be snarky and sexy without being labeled bitchy and slutty; and Zooey Deschanel is stepping up and showing women that it’s okay to be girly and cute, because being a woman doesn’t make you any less of a leader or any less in control of your destiny.

Gone are the days of the “quirky best friend” for every woman that isn’t a cardboard cutout of the typical tall blonde bombshell. And gone are the days of every tall, blonde bombshell being labeled as the “ditsy sex object.” Women are proving their chops in new ways. I think that, despite hair color, women have been restricted by their sex in the media, and that is changing. There hasn’t been a better time to be a funny woman in Hollywood then there is now, and I love that I’m on board for the ride.